


Welcome to the Show

by DoubleXXCross



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Canon - Manga, Future Fic, Gen, Prompt Fic, Some sad stuff, Tumblr Prompt, lot of other characters to the side, mostly at any rate
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-05
Updated: 2015-09-10
Packaged: 2018-04-03 01:10:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 8,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4080778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DoubleXXCross/pseuds/DoubleXXCross
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An assembly of short fics based on what was originally a list of drabble prompts from an RP blog ask meme on Tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Quiet Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito was born to be an entertainer, no matter who's in his audience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ["Leave a “Quiet Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about my character trying to calm yours down [be it from crying, from lashing out, feel free to specify.]"](http://askboxmemes.tumblr.com/post/31099194023/even-more-drabbles)
> 
> Characters: Kaito, "small detective boy whose name forgot" (Mitsuhiko)

The heist in Beika was next week, and so Kaito had come to scope out the area that Sunday. The location was a small museum within walking distance of Beika Park, which was where he found himself now, strolling down the path in broad daylight with a pair of sunglasses and a cap to shade his face as he examined the area for the best possible routes of escape through the trees (rooftops were getting a tad predictable as of late).

His reconnaissance only lasted a few minutes, however. A football skittered across the ground in front of him, and soon after it came a small horde of children.

A small horde of frighteningly _familiar_ children…

Who other than Tantei-kun would come running along to pass the ball over to his friend Genta? And with a huge, eerie grin on his face that was only shades off the one he usually gave a cornered KID? It was enough to cause nightmares. Kaito backed up as fast as he could without looking suspicious (which, when it came to Tantei-kun, was very, very difficult) and failed to fight back his desire to watch.

It wasn’t a proper game – with five players all on the same side and no identifiable goal area, it was really more of an elaborate passing exercise – and he wasn’t exactly a connoisseur, either; but it was one of the fastest he’d ever seen, let alone that it was being played by first-graders. Tantei-kun’s level of skill and talent had obviously driven the others to improve as best they could, and they were indeed providing fine competition, as well as entertainment – Kaito wasn’t the only one sitting down to watch them play. The Detective Boys were just that good.

All of them, even. Kaito hadn’t known the little yawny girl played… well, anything, but she was running around just as starry-eyed as the rest of them. It was kind of cute, if he stopped recalling that she was creepy and brooding.

About twenty minutes after he had joined the audience, Ayumi made a quick pass to Genta, who in turn kicked the ball to Mitsuhiko. Only, it was more of a shoot than a pass, and suddenly the gangly boy fell backwards, having been struck right on the nose.

With a really, really, really hard-sounding kick.

Ouch. The audience echoed that sentiment.

The boy’s lip quivered, and he sniffled, trying to hold back sobs. The other Detective Boys gathered around him, Tantei-kun pulling him up, Genta apologizing profusely. Ayumi and little Ai looked on in shock.

Then his face broke.

And a half-second after that, Kaito was across the field, not caring if one bit if Tantei-kun completely sussed him out. He knelt on the ground and cleared his throat. Five sets of young eyes turned towards him, three curious, and the other two mildly panicked and confused. Okay. Maybe he cared a little.

He shuffled and then fanned out a deck of cards from his pocket. “This is an absolutely ordinary deck of cards. Pick a card, please.”

Nervously, Mitsuhiko took one. “Good, good. Memorise it. Now hand it me back.” Kaito placed it under the deck and shuffled, then held the deck in his left hand. “Now… this is an extremely dangerous secret to impart. They’ll want my head for this, you know. But it must be explained, before the trick is done – the truth is, I have mystical powers!”

The kids looked terribly confused. “Mystical powers?” asked Ayumi.

Kaito nodded profusely. “It’s true, it’s true! In fact, all I have to do, is wave my finger over the deck like so, and-“

From the Detective Boys’ point of view, Kaito’s right index finger drew upwards, wiggling slightly, and, a few seconds later and a clear inch below, a card suddenly rose slowly from the deck. Kaito pulled it out. “Iiiiis _this_ your card?”

He flipped it, and Mitsuhiko did a take. “Y-yes, that is my card!”

“Wooow!”

“You must be a real wizard!”

“You guys…” Tantei-kun groaned, but he was smirking all the same, under the panic. Ai had the same sort of air about her.

“That was so cool! How did you do it?” Mitsuhiko asked. The tears had disappeared, and he was grinning from ear to ear.

Kaito tutted loudly. “I can’t say. A magician _never_ reveals his secrets, little guy. But-“ he winked, “-I’m pretty sure little detectives like you guys will definitely figure it out.”

(After all, detectives are critics. And critics are vicious when they want to be. Like ravenous little sh- bears. Bears. Land creatures, yes.)

“He knows we’re detectives!”

“We’re famous, you know!”

“Hey, come on, nii-san, show us more magic!”

“Yeah, do another one!”

“Pleeeeeeeease?”

Their smiles were bright and beaming. How on earth could he resist?

“Okay, okay…” Kaito laughed, and shuffled the deck again to begin his impromptu magic show. Welp, looks like he’d be rescheduling his recon mission for tomorrow…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The trick that Kaito is doing is pretty simple. The idea is to keep the chosen card on the bottom of the deck with a false shuffle, then you push it up with your little finger. The audience's point of view should cause this action to be hidden entirely by the deck.)
> 
> (Other tricks were considered, but they either required a table, an additional person, or a lot of detail.)


	2. Offer Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every true perfectionist despises leaving loose ends untied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ["Leave a “Offer Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about my character giving yours a gift."](http://askboxmemes.tumblr.com/post/31099194023/even-more-drabbles)
> 
> Characters: "Kaito and Hakuba??? I dunno, that seems like it could be a thing"

Saguru hit the bell and leaned against the wall, sighing.

Kuroba hadn’t come into school that morning. It had actually been rather nerve-wracking of a situation – most people in the class tended to expect a little chaos during the school day, whether it was simply the most obnoxious reading of a news article on the face of the earth, or a (thankfully rare) full-out duel between the amateur magician and Nakamori. Without it, the tension had never found an out.

It was actually not very often that Kuroba played absent, despite everything Saguru knew he must have gone through as Kaitou KID. He’d seen the police reports from before his time. But the few absences he did have did happen to line up with some of the more particularly gruelling heists.

Like last night, which had personally left Saguru feeling more than a tad sick.

Jack Connery, agent of Interpol, had fallen from a platform in an abandoned building, his head striking the ground upon impact. His son, a little boy who had idolised him greatly as a man of justice, stumbled upon the body mere seconds later. Gripped in Connery’s hand was Kaitou KID’s glove and beside him were the evening’s bounty and the infamous opera mask of the criminal Nightmare, Connery’s prey up until his death. A razor-sharp ace of spaces was embedded in the top. A gun belonging to Connery laid on the ground some space away.

According to the official police report, Connery had chased the mysteriously co-operating Nightmare and Kaitou KID to the building and been knocked aside, to his death, causing Nightmare and KID to quarrel and leave the building as enemies, tossing aside the Dark Knight earrings.

In truth, Connery was Nightmare, his gun had been pointed at KID, and even despite this Kuroba had held on for as long as he could before the man slipped from his grasp. He’d shot the mask away to protect Connery’s identity as best as he could while escaping to steal another day.

Kuroba was certainly an insatiable kleptomaniac, and his criminal acts could not be denied, but he was not a bad person.

He was a young boy with a dead father.

Saguru had noticed that detail a long, long time ago, and so had disappeared at the first opportunity, claiming a sudden stomach-ache with some (fairly dubious) acting.

The door opened while he was brooding over the situation, causing him to jump at the sudden noise. “Who is iiiiiiit?” Kuroba groaned, then looked left.

“Oh,” he said, “it’s you.”

Saguru blinked. It was no wonder that Nakamori hadn’t found the declaration of physical illness odd. Kuroba looked _wretched_. Pale skin, huge bags under his eyes, and doused in sweat. Obviously hadn’t slept well, was nauseous-

He was figuring out too much. Either make-up and poker face were failing or – no, it seemed Kuroba hadn’t even bothered.

“Are you going to be standing around all day or are you going to tell me what you want?” Kuroba grumbled, still gripping the door handle.

“-A-ah, yes, my apologies.” Saguru held up the package. “I know it must have been a rough night. So I brought you something.”

Kuroba took it, and unwrapped the box to find one white glove. And the barriers went up. “What is this?”

“Kaitou KID’s glove, dropped at the heist last night,” Saguru replied. “You can dance around the truth of your identity all that you like today, but it doesn’t matter. This should be important to you regardless of who you are – or say you are.”

Kuroba stared at him. “But this is-“

“Potentially incriminating evidence, yes – which is why I smuggled it out of the headquarters before it underwent any testing. I thought you would appreciate it.” He smirked. “Besides, my grandfather’s laboratory is better anyway.”

Delicately picking up the glove by a single finger, Kuroba gave the boy before him a very sceptical look. “You… stole this. For me.”

“I do realise this, yes. I am not exactly unfamiliar with theft and tampering of evidence. Of course,” Saguru said, “I think that some transgressions of the law can, in fact, be justified, if the purpose of such transgressions was for a greater good.”

Indigo eyes narrowed. “And what exactly was this greater good?”

“The greater good of ‘not kicking a man when he is down’.”

Kuroba furrowed his brow, but retreated into his house with the box, closing the door behind him. Saguru smiled lightly, shook his head, and walked away.

No, it wouldn’t be fair, especially not right now.

Not when there was years-old grief being relived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (It wasn't quite so much the charade of physical pain that freed Hakuba from class as it was him listing off the various possible medical reasons for said pain. The teacher booted him from the class after he began contemplating tapeworms.)


	3. Amuse Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It takes a long time to adjust to change, and not everybody can cope anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ["Leave a “Amuse Me” in my ask, and I will write a funny drabble about my character trying to cheer yours up."](http://askboxmemes.tumblr.com/post/31099194023/even-more-drabbles) (except 'funny' is mostly optional)
> 
> Characters: Ran and Kogorou "because what is prompts"

For the first time in her life, Mom hadn’t helped her get ready for school.

Both Sonoko and Shin’ichi noticed something was up the second they met her on the street. When Sonoko started yelling loudly how she was going to hurt whomever it was that’d made her sad, she burst into tears.

Shin’ichi was his own kind of protective, but he obviously realised it was out of his hands (after all it couldn’t be anybody from school because she’d just come from her house, and who could be there that made her sad?) and so he simply, quietly fumed.

In class, when she was asked to say the answer to some question she’d barely heard, she couldn’t even speak up. Everybody in the class had laughed at her, and she cried again.

Playtime was also bad – now that everybody was onto her, her two friends had suddenly had to guard her from the mean boys from the other side of the classroom. They were good at it – Shin’ichi could _kick_ things, and nobody pulled hair like Sonoko – but it didn’t make her feel any better.

In fact she remained very, very down in the dumps indeed, and eventually Teacher had pulled her out of the classroom and asked her what was wrong.

But that was the problem.

She didn’t know what was wrong!

She didn’t know why Mom and Dad had been yelling at each other lately! She didn’t know why suddenly Mom had been carrying a big bag and why she’d walked out the door and why Dad hadn’t said tucked her in or said goodnight!

She didn’t know why when she woke up Mom hadn’t come back or why Dad had had a big headache or why anything!

So Teacher called Dad, and she waited for him to come.

Eventually he did – looking better than he had that morning, but still bad.

In fact, his eyes were red like he’d also been crying.

As he held out his hand and said they were going home, they stared each other down, and in that split second she realised something.

“D-dad…”

“Come on, Ran,” he grunted, visibly tired.

She took his hand, shakily, and then suddenly jumped in shock, squealing. “Daaaaaaaaaad!”

“Huh? What is it…?”

“Daaaad, you’re turning into a _werewolf_!”

Dad was confused. “…What…?”

“You’re growing fur all over your face, Dad! Seeeeeeee!?” She jabbed a finger into the side of his face, deep enough to feel his jaw behind his skin.

Dad rubbed the spot, and his eyes slowly widened as he ran his fingers over the shadow that had developed since last night.

“But don’t worry, Dad!” She tugged him out of the building at a run. “We need to find a cure so that you won’t fully turn into a werewolf!”

“O-oi, Ran, where are we going?”

“To get the cure to turning into a werewolf!”

“What's the cure to turning into a werewolf!?”

She stopped, turned around and gave Dad a big, serious face. “The cure to turning into an werewolf is _ice cream_.”

“Ice cream?” Dad’s face scrunched up. “Why is it ice cream?”

“Because you put ice cream on your face every morning and it makes the hair go away, doesn’t it?” she said.

“What?”

She blinked. “…B-but I’ve seen you do it! You put ice cream on your face and then you do this thing with this stick and then the hair goes away!”

Dad stared at her, realised that regardless of how this had started she was absolutely not joking about it right now, and then laughed.

But it didn’t feel like everybody in her class laughing at her. It felt really good, because Dad was happy.

So she laughed too, and things suddenly seemed like they were going to be okay.

\---

Ten years later, several weeks before the second biggest change of their lives, and a despondent Dad sat at the desk, surrounded by beer cans, radio having been tuned into the horse races but now laying on the desk spouting adverts.

She walked in, frowning at him, and then pointed at his face. “Dad! It’s happening again!”

“Huh!?” Dad jumped out of his chair. “What!? What’s happening!?”

“I’m getting the ice cream! It looks serious this time!”

“Ice cream!? Ran, what’s going on!? Why are you getting ice cream!?”

She put on her best ‘horrified civilian’ expression. “Because it’s all over your face, Dad!”

“What’s all over my face!?” Dad screamed panicked.

“THE WEREWOLF FUR, DAD! WE’VE GOTTA APPLY THE ICE CREAM BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!”

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING AB-”

But Ran had already begun laughing, and after a second, he remembered, and so did he.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Since they only break out the joke when Kogorou is despondent, Shin'ichi has never heard it.)


	4. Paint Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Detective work involves finding the connection between pieces of seemingly disparate information. The connection between Conan and trouble is the least exhausting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ["Leave a “Paint Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about my character drawing a picture of yours [like one of your french girls~ be it painting them or drawing them, maybe offering a picture of them as a gift, feel free to specify]."](http://askboxmemes.tumblr.com/post/31099194023/even-more-drabbles)
> 
> Characters: "GIN & KOGOROU"

When Mouri Kogorou had opened his own detective agency, of course he’d been aware that he’d get people coming to him with ridiculous cases. He’d expected it to happen a lot sooner than it eventually did, but he could probably attribute that distinct delay to a decade of lack of motivation and being completely unknown in the world.

Of course, then the attention had come – as he had known it would – and suddenly every case he got was either completely reasonable with a predictable outcome, or the freeloader suddenly paid a lot of attention to something in the testimony, and then he was essentially banned from not following up on the claims.

(The boy was usually right, but that wasn’t the point.)

This though – he was absolutely sure of it. This was the useless case. There was absolutely no way the brat was going to have an adverse reaction to turning _this_ one down.

So, as the (self-identified) prospective client described the situation, he had begun chasing up various accidental explosions happening throughout the city in the several years or so. Places like a medical laboratory or a café. Kogorou, personally, recalled most of them – they’d all made the papers the next day. Every single one of them had been ruled an accident of some kind or another.

According to this man, though, they were all connected. By some kind of secret crime organisation. Or something like that.

Conspiracy theorists: not at the top of Kogorou’s list of Worst Kind of Person, but definitely ranking.

“I’m telling you, it’s real!” the man yelled, slamming the desk with one hand. “I’ve been tracking down as many places these guys have owned or patronised as I can, and they always end up blown to smithereens!”

“Can you prove all these places were related to this… this ‘organisation’ of yours?” Kogorou asked.

“Well, I’d been keeping surveillance of a bunch of them right ‘til they blew.”

Surveillance? Wait, so he might actually be telling the truth? “Do you still have the recordings?”

The man sweated. “Well, uh, actually, no. I didn’t make any recordings.”

“What the heck do you mean by surveillance then!?”

“Well, they’re a really classy operation. They’ve probably got some way to detect the bugs, and I know they’ve been killing the security cameras in the places they don’t own. So I’ve been going in disguise. They can’t erase what I saw with my own two eyes. It’s impossible.” Then suddenly he panicked. “Y-you know, unless they kill me-”

“So.” Kogorou’s eyebrows fell back down. “All I’ve got to go on is your word.”

That had been fairly discouraging, but even that wasn’t gonna stop the man. “Look, there’s this one guy. He’s the common link between all of the locations. This guy visits, the place explodes, sometimes not even twenty minutes after he shows up. If you’ve got a picture lying around anywhere I can point him out.”

Kogorou shook his head (in disapproval) and pulled over his notepad, opening it to a blank page. “Okay. Describe the guy.”

“Tall. Pale guy. Got the eyes of a murderer-”

“No conjecture!”

“O-oh, okay. Uh-”

The process took about ten minutes – Kogorou wasn’t exactly the finest of fine artists and this had never been the kind of work he’d ever been assigned to at the station. But when it was done, the man pointed in shock at the drawing. “Y-yeah! That’s the guy! That’s him!”

Kogorou turned the pad back at himself. Long hair like a manga character (or Ran, come to think of it, but this person was apparently definitely a man), a scar across his face, stereotypical mafia clothes, and he’d humoured him on the eyes… “Well… I’m not sure what I can do right now, but I’ll consider the case and get back to you.”

Which was Mouri Kogorou Language for “this is bull and you’ll never hear from me again”, but that wasn’t the sort of thing you said upfront. Bad for business if it got out.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” The man bowed. “Here’s my contact details-“ he shoved a piece of paper with a series of ragged scrawls on it, “-so call me if you find anything out, okay!?”

He excitedly stumbled out of the office about the same time that Conan walked in from elementary school. The boy watched the man go with big, blank eyes, then turned back to Kogorou. “Who was that, Occhan?” he asked.

“Some crackpot,” Kogorou replied once he was sure the man was out of earshot. “Had this weird conspiracy going on about a bunch of accidents around town. Even got me to draw this thing, as if this guy actually existed or something.”

As soon as Conan saw the image on the paper, a strange, calculating look appeared on his face, which then gave away to a look of absolute horror. Almost as if he _recognised_ the guy or something.

Wait…

The boy had reacted to something in the weirdo’s testimony.

…Oh, _for the love of_ -

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A first consideration was to have Kogorou learn of Gin as a suspect during his police days ten years ago, but not only would it have been repetitive, given the seriousness of the claim and his art skills, an actual sketch artist would have likely been called in.)


	5. X Me (Save Me)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can stick around for the credit roll all you like, but you've still got to leave at the end of the movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ["Leave a “X Me” in my ask, and I will write whatever it is that you wish, [specify.]"](http://askboxmemes.tumblr.com/post/31099194023/even-more-drabbles)
> 
> Characters: "Conan: SAVE ME Shinichi!"

The fall of the Organisation is nothing like he’s ever imagined it would be.

He’s always been planning to stand and watch as the Japanese police storm the building, to see handcuffed men and women walking away in droves. A single strike to the heart and, as with all the crooks he usually encounters, the dominos would simply fall into place. Even as time went by, and the impossibility of such a notion became apparent, he still hoped for the satisfaction of seeing it all end with his own eyes.

Instead, it’s an operation undertaken by foreign agencies. They refuse to take him to a single bust, no matter how much they all know about him, how old he is, how much he’s contributed to their investigation, and it’s weeks before he hears of the arrests of the last stragglers.

It’s only an off-the-record phone call from Akai when he hears they’ve won.

\---

Some time later, on a Sunday, a pill drops into his hands. He stares at it, the weight in his palm more emotional than physical.

It lies where countless temporary cures have sat, but this time, it’s the real thing.

“There will definitely be after-shocks for the month succeeding the transformation,” narrates Haibara, ever stern. “It’s an inevitable consequence of the time it’s taken to find the antidote. But, beyond this, the only work left – searching for any other survivors of APTX4869 who might have slipped through the cracks – is best performed in your original body. And then, that’s it. You can return to the life you once lost.”

She turns to him with a smile. She rarely smiles, especially for him. “Welcome to the epilogue, Kudou-kun. How does it feel?”

Impossibly surreal… like time itself is caught in his throat.

\---

He gives himself a week, by Haibara’s suggestion. Edogawa Conan’s departure needs time to be prepared so that Kudou Shin’ichi can slide back into his life with minimal trouble. No unexplained disappearances – just goodbyes and good lucks, all carefully arranged so that nobody curious will go looking where they shouldn’t be.

He returns to the Mouri Detective Agency like he always has since that terrifying night. The air has been different recently: Ran knows now. She confronted him just before Jodie and her people made their move. In the end, she wasn't even angry with him, just relieved to know that he was safe and sound and that her long-held, private suspicions were finally proven correct.

(She would definitely have been angry if he’d told her earlier, which makes him regret not doing so – his dishonesty and distrust, as well as the pain he caused her, all genuinely deserve her rage.)

Since then, she’s changed around him, and when he tells her about the antidote that evening, she kneels, draws him close and cries on his shoulder with joy.

“I-it’s finally happening-!” she says, her voice breaking as she spoke. “Y-you’re coming b-back!”

He squeezes back comfortingly. “Yeah. I’m coming back.”

“I can’t believe it…” She draws back, wiping her eyes. “It’s been so long – you’ll move back into your own house again, won’t you? And we won’t have Conan-kun around here anymore…”

Ah. “W-well… yeah.”

She brushes some damp hair from her face and glances into space. “We’re just going to have to get used to you being yourself again, aren’t we…?”

He watches her for a second, the bittersweet smile on her face, and the eyes that threaten to water again. “…Yeah.”

\---

The next day is Monday. After morning assembly is done, and everybody returns to the classroom, Ms Kobayashi makes her own announcement. Edogawa Conan will be moving overseas, she says, so this is his last week at Teitan Elementary School.

The staff can hear the disappointment from the other end of the building.

The students nearly fail to hold in their comments during first period. When break starts nearly an hour later, he finds himself surrounded and interrogated by no less than two-dozen grade-schoolers. Ayumi, Mitsuhiko and Genta manage to push their way to the front, and he is genuinely taken aback by the dejected looks on their faces.

He does his best to answer questions. The explanation has been agreed on already: Conan’s parents have changed jobs, freeing up enough time to allow them to take care of their son. Since they work outside of Japan, in order to live with them, Conan will inevitably have to leave the country.

And he does want to, he tells them. And there’s a pang in his voice just quiet enough that even he can’t hear it.

\---

“But do you _really_ hafta go?” asks Genta as they all walk to Agasa’s house that afternoon.

“I’ve got to go home,” he replies, his tone flat. “I’ve got people waiting for me.”

“But then _we’ll_ be waiting for you,” says Ayumi.

He frowns.

“It’s alright. We’ll just have to make sure that we all make the best of the time we have left together, won’t we?” Mitsuhiko suggests, and the others loudly agree. Haibara hums.

\---

Intent to keep their word, they visit as many places in Beika as they can before the weekend rolls around again. They take him to the park, and play football until night has fallen and their stomachs are growling. They take him to the cinema and fall asleep at each other’s film choices. They take him to the bookstore and let him bask in the glory of the mystery section with the kind of enthusiasm that he realises will soon be publicly discouraged.

They take him to a restaurant and a man lands headfirst in his food, dead within a minute. Considering everything, it’s remarkable it hasn’t happened earlier.

Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi are soon there, and while helping with the investigation he mentions that he won’t be around like this for much longer.

They seem less happy about that than they do about the murder, which is both somewhat funny and fairly indicative of the unusually high local crime rates.

After the case is solved, they take him to the station. Though some of the officers seem a little relieved at the news, most are sad to see him go. Officer Satou makes him promise to consider a future career in law enforcement. Inspector Shiratori tips his head in respect, a rare honour. Even Inspector Nakamori, a man not known for his politeness, wishes him luck in the future.

(As he leaves, he just barely notices a passing teenager in a dark gakuran, who turns around to watch his back, and then heads for the Second Division.)

\---

Friday is the last day of elementary school.

When he walks into the classroom, he finds it has been decorated with balloons. As the hours pass, he accumulates a number of gifts – video games, comics, trading cards, action figures, and so on. There are also cards, and a cake, which is finally eaten at lunchtime.

At the end, Ms Kobayashi gives him a hug, and the entire class, regardless of how well they actually knew or liked him, wave goodbye as he leaves the room with the Detective Boys.

He may never see any of them ever again.

\---

On Saturday, after another excitable excursion (the aquarium, where Ayumi seems determined to make him memorise every individual fish) the kids tell him they have a surprise arranged for tomorrow.

When he gets back later that evening, just after dinner, they hear the sound of a motorbike. Hattori pokes his head through the door, holding a sports bag.

“When I heard the news I hadta come down,” says the Detective of the West, once they’ve settled down on the office sofas with a drink. “When’re ya turnin’ back?”

He stares down into his orange juice. “My parents are taking me away tomorrow night. Then, I’ll come back in about a month or so.”

“Man, I’m lucky… An’ then, I s’pose ya won’t be yellin’ at me fer callin’ ya Kudou anymore, huh?” Hattori grins.

It’s just messing around as usual, but there’s something else behind that smile. The pride in one’s best friend is particularly noticeable. He’s always been very bad at accepting it.

\---

Kazuha shows up in the dead of night, vocal cords armed and dangerous. Apparently, while Hattori got permission from his family, he didn’t get it from her. She is about to shout about it when they tell her about Conan leaving.

Then she sobs, and they all discover they’d much prefer the shouting.

\---

He wakes up early on Sunday morning (at Ran’s request) to see his belongings – clothes, toys, games, gifts – all packed into a pair of suitcases. The apartment looks empty in consequence.

\---

It turns out the surprise was a trip to Tropical Land.

It’s the place where Shin’ichi disappeared, and after shuffling through the gates with an entourage twelve-strong (Agasa, Haibara, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta, Hattori, Kazuha, Sonoko, Sera, Ran and Mouri, and even Kisaki showed up for the occasion) he ends up looking for him everywhere he goes.

He sees him at the balcony in the castle, holding his disposable camera up to take a photograph.

He sees him in the line to the Mystery Coaster, smiling and talking without a care in the world.

He sees him lying face-first in the grass near the Ferris wheel, with blood pouring down his face and his body turning into fire.

Ran is there with him. She catches him when he shivers, and then they turn around and walk away to get drinks at a vending machine. A cold can presses against his face, bringing him back into the real world, and they look at each other and laugh.

Food is eaten and rides are ridden. They win prizes and play games and joke with one another. Memories are made.

A fireworks show starts at seven o’ clock. They all watch together as sparks of all shades bloom over the park, a veritable bouquet of fire in the evening sky. He glances at them, seeing their faces glow in the darkness. It’s a sight he’ll never see again, he realises.

And then it’s time.

\---

Conan’s mother and father (really Shin’ichi’s mother and father, but in disguise) pull up in the car park, and step out to greet everyone, as well as transfer his luggage, before gesturing for him to come with them.

Apparently, this is what finally drives it home. Ayumi refuses to let him walk away, eyes closed and tears streaming down her face. Mitsuhiko and Genta are similarly affected, though trying to hold it back. Sonoko is two steps from wailing. Kazuha fares better due to last night, but she’s about to rebound, and while Hattori is doing a fine job trying to calm her, there’s something in his face that seems to contradict the fact he knows what’s really about to happen. Ran looks the same.

Mouri kneels down. “So, uh,” he grunts, slapping a hand on his shoulder. “…Don’t give your folks any grief like you’ve done us, okay?”

“Dear!” Kisaki says, almost scoldingly, if the word hadn’t been missing its sting.

“I know, I know…” Mouri rolls his eyes, and then focuses on him once more. “I’m gonna miss you, brat.”

After a second to blink and process, he finds his words coming back to him. “I’m gonna miss you too, Occhan.” There is no lie.

\---

As they drive away, he watches them all disappear into the darkness.

As they disappear, his eyes refocus until he sees his reflection.

A small boy of seven years old looks out from the window. He wears large glasses that he doesn’t need and a beloved pair of red sneakers that harbour a secret. He is bright and insightful, but more than a little immature. He likes reading books, and playing video games, and snooping around all the places he doesn’t belong.

Tomorrow he’ll be gone, consigned to the photo albums of two families, and the thoughts of his friends, of which he had plenty.

When the paper trail is gone, those will be the only traces of him left in this world.

In the back of the car, headed to the safe house where he’ll take the cure he’s wanted for so long, Kudou Shin’ichi lets his shoulders sag, and wonders what he should have done to save Edogawa Conan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Somewhat inspired by Poirot Café’s eleventh competition “Seeking Symmetry”, in particular the “Beginnings and Endings” prompt.)


	6. Fight Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He is understandably worried, and he has every right to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ["Leave a “Fight Me” in my ask, and I will write a drabble out my character fighting with/or against yours."](http://askboxmemes.tumblr.com/post/31099194023/even-more-drabbles)
> 
> Characters: Ayumi, "Tagaki"/"Police guy"

Wataru had been in a lot of terrifying situations in his life. Well, by 'his life' he really meant the last year, but the sentiment didn't really change - he was pretty sure nobody would trade their days for being trapped in a burning building, or shot in the shoulder, or sat next to a bomb, or kidnapped and tied up next to another bomb, let alone all of those things within the space of twelve months.

This, though... Somehow this was the most terrifying situation he’d ever been in: he was about to argue with a little girl.

Not because he wanted to, mind; this was actually another episode of 'The Grand and Very Dangerous Adventures of the Detective Boys'. They had been investigating the disappearance of a fellow elementary school student, and it had pulled them into a serial kidnapping case that the police had been chasing for a few months. There were too many suspects and too few pieces of evidence to go on, but they knew how the culprit worked, and what they looked for.

Ayumi fit the description a little too perfectly, and she had volunteered to be a decoy.

People rarely gave Ayumi credit for her courage and strong will. She wasn't the strongest or the smartest of her little group of friends, that was for certain, but there weren't many in this world who could take running into so many dangerous situations and still come out so sunny and optimistic. And to think she was only seven years old...

Anyway, nobody had been able to talk her out of it, not even her parents. So now, they stood here together, in the shopping arcade where the other little girls had disappeared, walking past the window of a toy shop, with Wataru wondering who would start.

What if they screwed this up? He knew they had plainclothes officers dotted around the place, but what if Ayumi got kidnapped and there was nothing they could do about it? He knew Conan and his friends had dealt with abductions before, and the boy had made sure she carried her badge radio with her, but what if the signal got jammed, or it was discovered and crushed?

On top of that, he was going to argue with a little girl. And then he was going to lose her. On purpose. That was terrible. He was terrible. Why had he signed up for this?

Because he knew these kids better than anybody else in the entirety of the Tokyo Met, and he'd kick himself if anybody else lost her. And with that resolve in mind, he opened his mouth an-

"Daddy, Daddy, I want that one!" Ayumi tugged him back and pointed at a poster of an electronic talking doll hanging in the display. "Can we get it? Pleeeeease?"

Okay. She started. Okay. (Daddy. Helpful.) Now to argue with a child.

They did not train you for this. Which was a pity, because if you were brave enough to loudly fake-argue with a child with the specific intention of looking like an utterly terrible person, you deserved to be a cop.

He leaned forward to look at the price tag. “Oh, we can’t buy this, it costs far too much,” he replied.

“Awww, but you never get me _anything_!” Ayumi whined loudly.

“Well-” quick, think of an objection before he actually _did_ buy her the talking doll- “I’m sorry, but we’ve got to have enough to pay the rent for the apartment!”

A second’s pause, and then, “We wouldn’t have to pay the rent if Mommy hadn’t left.”

The look Wataru gave her could probably have been mistaken from a distance for a stricken nerve, which was to their benefit. In reality, he was just staring down at her, utterly baffled. That had sounded far too convincing to not be true…

“Well, unfortunately, that’s just how it is, and now we’ve got to pay rent,” he said, and pulled lightly on Ayumi’s arm. “Now come on, we’ve got grocery shopping to do-”

“I want Mommy back!” Ayumi yelled, drawing multiple stares. “She always buys me toys!”

“Mommy’s not coming back, sweetie-” He let his voice rise, and waver, though he hoped nobody heard that.

“I want Mommy back _now_!”

This reaction was getting a little too real. Oh no, what if she actually was having family problems? What if he was exacerbating the situation through doing this?

But they had to sell it, otherwise they’d know it was a trap. So he yanked her away from the window as softly as he could. “Mommy’s not coming back, okay? So you’re stuck with me! And we’re getting our groceries and then going home! And that’s final!”

“No!” Ayumi, tears in her eyes, ripped her hand out of Wataru’s with a force he could never have expected, and ran around the corner, disappearing from sight. There she went, and there he was left surrounded by the murmurs and whispers of the onlookers.

He took a moment to breathe, then walked in the direction Ayumi had headed. Once he’d cleared the area, he folded into a public bathroom, removed the badge radio Conan had given him from his pocket, pulled out the antenna, and waited, drowning in guilt in the process as he listened to her sob.

It was only a few minutes later when he heard a woman’s voice trying to calm Ayumi down. Talking about her horrible Daddy (gulp). Talking about how she knew her Mommy… and the click of a door as she said she’d take Ayumi to her-

Got ‘em.

Wataru tore out of the bathroom and rushed to the parking lot, listening as Ayumi played along with the ‘nice lady’. There they were - Ayumi getting into the back seat of a car, helped by a middle-aged woman who was smirking all too suspiciously at the girl’s back.

It took all of a few seconds for Wataru to clear the distance between them and tackle the woman to the ground, cuffing her. Half a moment later a football sailed at high speed over their heads, the bespectacled shooter staring on in surprise.

“Ayumi-chan, are you alright?” Wataru called to the girl.

She slid out of the car seat, smiling and nodding. “Thank you for saving me, Takagi-keiji!”

“Uh, I-I mean, from what I said earlier-”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Ayumi cried, the corners of her mouth dropping. “I made you really angry didn’t I?”

Wataru blinked. “N-no, but, uh- I-if anything’s going wrong at home, you can call me-”

Ayumi put her hands to her mouth. “Y-you thought- oh no, I’m so sorry! My Mom and Dad are fine! There’s nothing going wrong or anything!”

Wataru’s eyebrows rose to meet his hairline. In the distance, Conan sighed in exasperation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Conan reminded him he'd met Ayumi's happily-married parents multiple times, which hardly helped his embarrassment.)


	7. Haunt Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hattori has a lot of talents, but there are some that only few could ever consider a blessing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ["Leave a “Haunt Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about my character watching over yours [as a ghost, watching from a distance, or otherwise, feel free to specify.]"](http://askboxmemes.tumblr.com/post/31099194023/even-more-drabbles)
> 
> Characters: Hattori, Shin'ichi - originally a request for Fight Me, right when the other one came in, so included "(Or conan, though adult fighting child is not great)"

How long had it been now? Shin’ichi checked his watch, and glanced back at the figure two metres behind him via the mirror of a parked car.

Ten minutes. Ten minutes that Hattori had been stalking him.

He had to hand it to the guy – he was actually fairly good at this. He knew he shouldn’t feel so surprised about that; Hattori was, after all, a fellow detective, and tailing was a necessary part of the skill set. But the usually boisterous teenager was blending into the busy Tokyo crowds well, not saying a single word. Keeping subtle about his attention, as well – glancing around the buildings like a lost tourist, though always keeping him in the corner of his vision.

Heck, there were only two reasons why Shin’ichi knew he was being followed: that he was paranoid enough from the past few years to do a covert area sweep at every street corner, and that he already knew Hattori. If he had been a suspect, he would have never noticed.

He stopped in the middle of the street, and when he’d turned around, Hattori had already approached the nearby bus shelter, casually checking the schedule. Shin’ichi coughed loudly, and the other froze.

“Hattori.”

There was a pause, and then, like a Pinto over a cliff, Hattori exploded into very obviously nervous laughter. “Heeeey, Kudou! Man, didn’t expect ta see _you_ out here today!” He grabbed Shin’ichi by the shoulder and shook him with a large, friendly grin. “How ya doin’?”

“Why are you following me?”

Hattori’s smile faltered. “F-followin-“

“You’ve been doing it for the last twelve blocks. Cut the bull and talk to me, Hattori.”

Hattori gave him a long stare, and then a hard tug – “C’mon,” – in the direction of a fast food restaurant across the street.

He left Shin’ichi at a table for two by the windows, and then came back after a few minutes with a set of boxes on a tray. “Nee-chan mentioned ya weren’t eatin’ much recently,” he explained. “Figured you need the calories.”

Shin’ichi raised an eyebrow. That was actually true, but something about this explanation didn’t feel entirely true. “So… you followed me because I’m not eating? Is that it?”

Hattori glanced around suspiciously.

Ah. So no.

“What are you really doing in Beika, Hattori?” Shin’ichi took a bite of the sandwich. “There a reason you didn’t ambush me like you normally do?”

The guilty look on Hattori’s face gave way to sinking shoulders and thoughtful chewing. “…Dream.”

Huh? “A… dream?”

“I had a dream. ’Bout you. So I took a flight. Called Nee-chan, asked where ya were. Found ya eventually, tailed ya fer a bit. Now we’re here.”

That still could not be enough. “So _that’s_ it?”

Hattori set down his chips and looked out of the window, one arm propping his head up off the table. “You were walkin’ down some street when it happened, mindin’ yer own business. Sniper, top of a buildin’ ‘cross the street. Shot fer yer head. Was nothin’ you could do about it. Saw yer face just tear apart… almost like I was there…” He absentmindedly patted the side of his face. “I couldn’t get it outta my head, is all…”

Shin’ichi frowned. “Moron. It was a dream. Just let it go.”

“Kudou.” Hattori fixed him with a deadly serious gaze. “You _know_ I ain’t gonna do that.”

“I’m not a kid anymore.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

“Where’s all of this even coming from?”

“Ya know where it’s comin’ from.”

Did Shin’ichi really- oh.

Oh…

“Listen,” he started, “if this is because of that thing with Numabuchi-”

“O’ COURSE IT’S BECAUSE O’ THAT THING WITH NUMABUCHI!” Hattori yelled, half out of his seat, earning jumps and stares from the restaurant patrons around them. Under the weight of at least two-dozen pairs of eyes, he shrank back down into the chair, face scrunched up in frustration.

Shin’ichi sat frozen, eyes wide. “Hattori-”

“Kudou, please…” Hattori sighed. “Back then – that wasn’t just some one-in-a-million coincidence. You know that, an’ I know that. I already knew that! An’ if it was, an’ it’s never gonna happen again – I’m still not takin’ the risk o’ leavin’ you alone! ‘Cause, if I was right all along, then I’ll have your corpse on my conscience fer the rest o’ my life. So please, just… lemme stick around, fer. Ugh. A day. Just today, an’ make sure everythin’s okay. Please, Kudou?”

It took a second for Shin’ichi to find his voice again. When he did, he gripped Hattori’s wrist tightly. “Fine. Just one thing.”

“I’m all ears.”

“Next time, you tell me before you get here.”

Hattori nodded, and this time a real smile broke through on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (The problem with being able to dream the future is that, later that day, a sniper fired their rifle.)


	8. Join Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ["Leave a “Join Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about my character giving your character an offer [be it a proposal for an alliance, asking them to join them in an activity (you can get dirty if you want), feel free to specify]."](http://askboxmemes.tumblr.com/post/31099194023/even-more-drabbles)
> 
>  
> 
> Characters: Haibara, Conan

Conan had never really thought before about how lonely Professor Agasa had probably been before his little accident. Maybe it was just that he himself was the independent type, and was pretty used to being left alone, that had meant he hadn’t noticed before, but there was definitely a different kind of attitude about him whenever the kids came around to play. He was fairly sure that most unemployed bachelors balked at the concept of taking care of five kids, but here the man was now, walking around with a big grin on his face as he treated everybody to snacks.

Well, almost everybody.

There were currently four children to five plates, and Conan glanced over at the stairs leading to the basement. Haibara was down there, and she hadn’t come back up for the past hour. Of course, she was probably doing something related to the antidote, so he was happy to leave her be, but the kids weren’t privy to that particular piece of information, and they did look worried.

Though, it wasn’t like they didn’t have reason to be. She hadn’t looked all that good throughout the school day. She had seemed like she was coming down with something, to them at least, and that was enough.

Sighing, he took the extra plate and stood up. “I’ll get this down to Haibara, okay? You guys stay here; I think the Professor’s got a new quiz lined up from the way he’s smiling.”

Turning swiftly to ignore the silent groan of ‘oh no not again’, he hurried down the stairs and opened the basement door.

The basement laboratory was a dim boiler room that had found itself equipped with ceiling-high shelving and several desks. He wasn’t sure what it had looked like before Haibara had moved in, but this was where most of her scientific belongings were kept, out of the way of visitors (as well as Agasa’s own experiments). Through the door, the focal point of the room was the monitor for the computer on which Haibara was working intently, its glowing screen creating a halo around her head.

Entirely undeserved, considering her usual treatment of him, but this wasn’t the time to be a jerk.

“Brought you some food,” he said, offering the plate to her.

“Thank you.”

She didn’t move, so he set it down next to her, its raised edge covering up a small pile of floppy disks that he didn’t bother to scrutinise in the low light. “So, how’s it going?” he tried.

“As usual.”

Which basically meant that it wasn’t.

He’d been told before that, without the complete information on the structure of APTX4869, there was only a very low chance that the permanent antidote would be complete within the next few years. The temporary antidotes were a big step, but they didn’t flush the poison from the system, only inhibit it for a brief period. In truth, they weren’t even halfway there.

If biochemistry was anything like an investigation, Conan reasoned, then she needed to get away from the computer. It didn’t do well to dig oneself into a mental rut. He’d had cases before where the clues he had were limited, and it was only after his view had been changed or freshened by a distraction that he’d finally seen what he needed to solve the mystery.

“If you get the chance to take a break soon,” he asked, wandering back to the door, “would you mind coming upstairs? Everybody’s worried about you, you know.”

There was a break in the keyboard’s clacking, and he watched her shoulders droop. “I suppose they must be.” Then the typing resumed.

“Hmm…” He leaned against the doorframe, glancing around at the little space. Small, cramped, and vaguely orange thanks to the flickering ceiling light; it was lonely, and a little pathetic. “Say, Haibara…”

“What is it, Kudou-kun?”

“I was just wondering. When all this is over… what are you going to do?”

She gave a little hum of interest, but no answer.

“I mean, I know what I want to do,” he continued. “I want to get my own life back, even if there isn’t very much of it left by the time we get there. But… I don’t think any of us actually know what you’re going to do.”

Haibara turned around, her eyes glinting bright for a second as they were briefly hit by the cold light of the screen. A tense silence filled the air.

Eventually she spoke. “Maybe I haven’t decided yet,” she said.

The light behind her then died, and she got out of the chair and walked past him, out of the boiler room.

“Well, whatever you do,” said Conan, “don’t leave us out of it. Especially the Professor. He likes having everybody around, you know?”

She hesitated, on the step just before her head would come into view from the living room sofas.

“…I’ll keep that in mind.”

Then she carried on up, and Conan heard three mingling shouts of the girl’s names before he ascended himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day, while riding through the forest, I realised that I had a pain inside my mouth. To which of the forest's animals did I go for help?
> 
> a) the mole?  
> b) the deer?  
> c) the owl?


	9. Drink Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ["Leave a “Drink Me” in my ask, and I will write a drabble about my character taking shots with yours."](http://askboxmemes.tumblr.com/post/31099194023/even-more-drabbles)
> 
> Characters: Aoko, Ran

“ _KANPAI_!” The glasses clinked.

“‘Kanpai’, you say?” Aoko muttered under her breath, as the officers at the tables behind her broke into raucous laughter. “Oh, it was a _kanpai_ , alright...”

Over the last few years, the Kaitou KID Task Force’s enthusiasm for catching Kaitou KID seemed to have waned considerably. It might have been some psychological trick of the thief’s ‘charming’ nature, or simply the end result of failing over and over; whatever the reason, they now celebrated every little victory by going out drinking after the heist. Those ‘little victories’ could be embarrassingly infinitesimal at best - for example, this time they were celebrating because they’d managed to stutter his getaway for six seconds (an improvement on the previous four, to be fair).

Aoko didn’t like it, personally. They were cops! Guardians of the law; people that were supposed to be stopping criminals like KID. Drinking to celebrate anything at a time like this was like drinking to celebrate your enemy’s success! It was backwards!

At least they’d picked to haunt the Blue Parrot tonight. There was less of a chance she’d be hit on, and if Jii ever managed to find a reasonable gap between the officers’ orders she might have the company of a sober friend...

Grumbling, she slugged back her non-alcoholic juice drink and slumped over, just in time to hear the door click open and a series of footsteps approach the bar next to her.

“Excuse me, have you seen my Dad? He was supposed to have come here tonight...”

“Mr Mouri just went to the restroom,” replied Jii. “Since he drank quite a lot, I’m not sure how long he’s going to be. Make yourself comfortable while you wait, please. Would you like a drink?”

“Ah! Thank you very much. I’ll have a soda, if it’s no trouble.” The barstool next to her creaked as the other girl sat down. By the time the glass hit the wood, there came a call from the tables, so Jii left the two of them alone.

There were a tense few seconds, before a sudden, “Oh… um… are you okay?”

Aoko looked up. And then wondered if she hadn’t been slipped some alcohol by accident, because for some reason she was seeing a duplicate of herself.

They did look astonishingly alike, really. Though the hair was different - wavy to her shaggy, flat to her puffed - and the fashion sense was too - smart casual and modern, as opposed to her own retro style - she could swear she was looking into a mirror of her own face.

The other girl recovered a lot quicker than she did. “I’m sorry if I startled you. You just seem a little frustrated.”

“...I’m not that frustrated,” Aoko replied, settling. “I’m just waiting for Dad to stop drinking and start doing his job.”

“You too?” the other girl giggled. “Mine was on a consultancy job tonight. When he called me and told me to pick him up from a bar, I thought I was going to crush the phone.”

“Oh, I’m past that stage. I came with him this time so that he wouldn’t have to call me out.”

“I wish I’d had such a chance.” The other girl took a sip of her pop. “He called me away from my university dorm in the middle of the night. He might’ve left sober if I’d been here to begin with.”

Aoko smiled. “Well, it’s only because this has been going on for a while. Though it seems to have mostly picked up since I got into university.”

“Oh, that’s when Dad started again, I think. He was good while Conan-kun was staying with us, but I stop being at home and all of a sudden…”

“Huh…” Aoko flagged Jii down for long enough to ask for a refill. He complied, and then disappeared off again. “Isn’t your mom able to do something about it?”

The other girl looked down into her drink with a sad smile. “No, Mom left nearly fifteen years ago now. Isn’t yours?”

“Mom’s been gone since I was a little kid too,” Aoko muttered with a little surprise. “Whoa. We really are alike.”

The other girl laughed. “I suppose we are! Though I sincerely doubt you’ve got a sneaky runaway childhood friend who moved country like I do.”

Aoko stared. “I do.”

The other girl stared back. “Really?”

Aoko retrieved her phone from her dungaree pocket and showed her the photo of Kaito she’d taken the last day they’d seen one another, before he’d left for Las Vegas.

The other girl gaped, and dragged out her wallet to show a picture of a nearly identical-looking boy, though several years younger, standing with her on a balcony at the Tropical Land theme park. The same difference between them as between the two girls - flattened hair versus ragged.

“No way,” Aoko breathed. “You… wouldn’t happen to go to Touto University too, would you?”

“I do…!”

At this point, Nakamori Ginzou, Aoko’s father, stood up from the table and waved at them. “Aoko, I think I’m done for the night!”

At roughly the same time, Mouri Kogorou, Dad’s consultant for the evening, finally stumbled his way out of the bathroom at the rear of the room, and waved as well. “Oi, Ran! I’m good to go!”

“Okay, Dad!” they shouted together, and then looked at each other with wide eyes.

Ran broke the silence. “Want to meet up on campus some time? We appear to have a lot in common!”

Aoko nodded eagerly. “I’d love to.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are three words that are pronounced 'kanpai': 乾杯, which is used to mark a toast; 完敗, which means 'utter defeat'; and 感佩, which means 'heartfelt appreciation'.


End file.
